Apparatus used in web printing and other processes



Aug. 10, 1937. G. w. GROSSMITH APPARATUS USED IN WEB PRINTING AND OTHER PROCESSES Filed March 9 Patented Aug. 10, 1937 APPARATUS USED IN WEB PRINTING AND OTHER PROCESSES George Wilfred Grossmith, Whitehall, Bristol, England, assignor to Strachan & Henshaw, Limited, Whitehall, Bristol, England, a corporation of Great Britain Application March"9, 1937, Serial No. 129,793 In Great Britain December 27, 1935 6 Claims. (Cl. 101-228) This invention relates to apparatus used in web printing and other processes where an impression, design, or the like is made and recurs V V at intervals on the web of material during its "'5' passage through the machine, (hereinafter referred to as of the kind described) Hitherto the speed of printing or like machines of the kind described has been limited in practical use due to the inability of the operators to see the quality of impression being made on the web at speeds greater than can be readily followed by the human eye. This disability is and has been much more pronounced in machines or mechanisms in which-a plurality of printed or embossed impressions have to be made on the printed web superimposed or relative to each other for the purpose of design or effect.

The object of the present invention is toprovide an apparatus of the kind described which can be run at an increased speed whilst enabling which'has been made on the web.

According to the present invention means are 7 provided for slowing down, or bringing to rest, 955 a portion of the printed or otherwise treated web for the purpose of examination during its j passage through the device without altering the speed of the ingoing or outgoing web.

A The said means may comprise a device arg ranged between the printing, embossing or like machine and the rewinding reel, over which the web is passed, in which one part is movable relatively to the other and arranged during its movement in one direction to take up the in- 35 coming web, so that a portion of the web on the device is slowed down or is brought to rest, the web thus taken up during the movement in the one direction being given out during the return movement. I ll) The device may comprise fixed rollers and movable rollers which may be carried on a moving carriage. The webmay be passed successively over the movable rollers and the fixed rollers so that movement of the carriage for the movable rollers away from the fixed rollers will take up the incoming web, leaving an intermediate portion at rest, or moving at a speed which will permit of inspection.

The means for reciprocating the moving carriag'e may be continuous in action or intermittent. One form of such means may comprise endless chains driven by chain wheels and operatively engaging the moving carriage to reciprocate the H latter; The invention is illustrated in the accompanyth operator to inspect the quality of impression ing drawing. Referring to the drawing, the web of material a which has been printed, embossed or otherwise treated, is passed over or through an apparatus A (hereinafter referred to as an inspection apparatus) arranged between the printing or like machine B and the re-winding reel 0. This inspection apparatus comprises a front set of two fixed rollers 2, 2, a rear set of two fixed rollers 2, 2, two sets of rollers 3, 3, carried on a sliding carriage 4 adapted to be slidden between the two sets of fixed rollers, 2, 2', two spaced end rollers 6, 1 arranged in a horizontal plane above the said fixed and movable rollers and rollers l3, I3 for feeding the printed or otherwise treated web into the inspection apparatus and from the inspection apparatus into the rewinding reel c. The web passes alternately over the movable and fixed rollers 3, 2, over the two end rollers 6, 1, and thence alternately over the movable and fixed rollers 3', 2', to the rewinding reel 0. By sliding the carriage 4 carrying the movable rollers away from the rollers 2 towards the fixed rollers 2', the web entering the inspection apparatus is taken up partly or entirelyso that that part of the web between the end rollers 6, 1 is slowed down or entirely stopped without interrupting the feed of the web.

0n reversing the direction of the moving carriage and its rollers 3, 3 the opposite effect will be produced, namely the web between the end rollers will be increased in velocity.

The mechanism for reciprocating the moving carriage may be continuous in action or intermittent. One method of imparting motion to the moving carriage 4 consists of endless chains 8 mounted preferably on either side of the device and carried by chain wheels 9, H]. A block or roller II or like device adapted to engage a vertical slot I2 on the moving carriage is fixed to the chains, the arrangement being such that as the chains are caused to rotate around their chain wheels a reciprocating motion is given to the moving carriage.

Cranks, links, or other devices may be used in place of the chains 8 to give the necessary reciprocating motion to the moving carriage.

The mechanism for reciprocating the moving carriage may .be continuous in its action or intermittent and may be driven from the machine to which the sighting device is attached, or may be independently driven from any convenient source of power such as independent electric motor and the like. When it is desired to operate intermittently-the sighting device a friction clutch or other contrivance of a similar nature may be employed between the sighting device and the source of power driving same. Or, in the case of electric motors being used for independent driving, the motor may be started and stopped as required for operating the sighting device. In the form described the length of web for inspection is arranged in a horizontal position on the end rollers but it may be vertical or arranged in any other form more suited to the machine or process to which it is attached.

It will be apparent that various means-may be resorted to for retarding or stopping the movement of the web for a limited time without departing from the spirit of my'invention. For example, while the reciprocating carriag'eis illustrated in the accompanying drawing as being positively driven back and forth to take up and pay out loops at opposite ends of the carriage, the positive drive thereof could be dispensed with and it could instead merely be free to reciprocate to a limited extent, under which condition the web could be forcibly retarded for a limited time,

by any suitablemeans, at either or both the fixed rollers 6 or n whereupon the tension exerted upon the re-winding reel 0 would shorten the web loops passing about the rollers 2, 3 and cause the carriage to move rearwardly. The retardation or stopping of the web would neces sarily cease upon the completion of the rearward movement of the carriage, whereupon the latter could be returned by any suitable means to its original position at the front end of the inspection device for a further retarding or stopping of the web as desired. I v I 7 As above mentioned in operation when the sliding carriage is moved away from the point at which the web of materialis fed into the device there is a lengthening of the path of the material between the point at which the web is fed in and the end rollers carrying the inspection length of web, and a corresponding shortening of the path of the web between these end rollers and the point at which the web of materialleaves the device. By regulating the speed of travel of the carriage to increase exactly the length of the web ;path between the point of entryand the viewpoint (i. e, the Web between the end rollers) by an amount equal to the length or web-fed into the apparatus during the period the carriage is moving, the portion of web between the end rollers Willbe brought to rest, whereas during the same period the web path between the viewpoint and thepoint where the web leaves the apparatus will be shortened by acorresponding amount and the amount of web length taken from the apparatus will equal the length oi web fed into same, the-web between tion. The return speed may be as slow as'desired,

so that the speed of the web at such times is very little above the speed at which the web enters the apparatus. I 4

The present invention is particularlyuseful in connection with printing machines in which a web of material is passed through the printing machine and after the impression has been made thereon is re-wound into printed bobbins or reels for transport or subsequent operations.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for processing a substantially continuous web being passed through a processing machine or the like at a substantially non- Variable speed, comprising a processing device adapted to process and pass a web, a source of web supply for said device, receiving means for receiving a processed web after it has passed from said device, and inspection means adapted to coact with a portion of a web intermediate a processing point in said device and the said receiving means in such a manner that such portion of the web is brought to a point where it may be viewed by an operator, said inspection means including means to diminish the speed of the web to permit inspection thereof.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, the inspection means comprisng a set ofrelatively movable entering web guides and a set of relatively movable discharging Web guides arranged so that an intervening portion of the web may be viewed by an operator as it passes from one set to the other, each of said sets being adapted, by the whereby to sufficiently diminish the speed of such intervening portion of the web to permit inspection thereof.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, the inspec i tion means comprising an entering set of webguides and a discharging set of web-guides arranged so that an intervening portion of the-web may be viewed by an operator as it passes from one set to the other, and each of said sets having one or more fixed guides and oneor more related movable guides, the movable guides in both sets being connected together and adapted to move oppositely relatively to their related fixed guides whereby to alternately and inversely vary the lengths of the portions of web passing through the two sets and thereby vary the speed of such an intervening web portion while the said length variations are taking place.

.4. Apparatus according to claim 1, the inspection means comprising an enteringset of webguides and a discharging set of web-guides, each set having one or more fixed guides and one or more related movable guides and being arranged so that an intervening portion of the web may be viewed by an operator as is passes from one set to the other, a carriage on which the said movable guides are mounted, the said carriage being adapted to reciprocate relatively to the fixed guides whereby to alternately and inversely vary the lengths of the portionsof web passing through the two sets of web-guides and thereby vary the spee'd'of such an intervening web'portion while the said length variations are taking place, the

movement of the said carriage in one direction causing said intervening web portion to slow down or come to rest, and the movement of the carriage in the other direction restoring it to a position whence it may again be moved to repeat the slowing down of the web for further inspectionasfdesired.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, the inspection means comprisingan enteringset of webguides and a discharging set of web-guides, each set having one or more fixed guides and one or more related movable guides and being arranged so that an intervening portion of the web may be viewed by an operator as it passes from one set to the other, a movable carriage on which the said movable guides are mounted, means for reciprocating said carriage relatively to the fixed guides whereby to alternately and inversely vary the lengths of the portions of web passing through the two sets of web guides and thereby vary the speed of such an intervening web portion while the said length variations are taking place, the said reciprocating means comprising a driven endless flexible member having a portion in engagement with and adapted to reciprocate the carriage, the movement of the said carriage in one direction causing said intervening web portion to slow down or come to rest and the movement of the carriage in the other direction restoring it to a position whence it may again move to repeat the slowing down of the web for repeated inspection whenever desired.

6. Apparatus for processing a substantially continuous web being passed through a processing machine or the like at a substantially non-variable speed, comprising a processing device adapted to process and pass a web, a source of web supply for said device, receiving means for receiving a processed Web after it has passed from said device, and inspection means for permitting continuous inspection of such a web during its passage from the processing device to the receiving means, said inspection means comprising supporting guides adapted to support the web in a visible position, a set of entering web-looping guides adapted to engage a web intermediate the processing device and the said supporting guides, a set of discharging web-looping guides arranged opposite said sets of entering web-looping guides and adapted to engage a web intermediate the said supporting guides and said receiving means, a reciprocating guide-carriage disposed between the said sets of web-looping guides, and means for continuously reciprocating said carriage along a line extending therebetween, each of said sets of web-looping guides having one or more fixed guides spaced apart from corresponding fixed guides of the other set, and also having one or more movable guides mounted upon said reciprocating carriage whereby, as the carriage reciprocates, the web carried upon the supporting guides is alternately retarded and increased in speed, the retardation being sufficient to permit inspection of the passing web and the continuous action of the inspection means permitting inspection at any time without altering the speed of the press.

GEORGE WILFRED GROSSMITH. 

